Jackdaws – Open Mic Night

Venue: Mad Ferret Date: 19 Jan 2011

The Mad Ferret is one of the most popular live music venue’s in Preston. With a 180+ capacity, stage, lighting rig and sound system it is the perfect place for intimate gigs. The open mic, which is held every Wednesday, is ideal to sample some of the talent that the city has to offer.

The open mic on Wednesday 19th January was no exception. Notable highlights of the evening included ukulele comedy from Kris Ball, guitar singalongs from KrisYeates and looping pedal acoustics from Sheffield’s Graeme Baranyai.

Perhaps the biggest crowd drawer of the evening was for upcoming Preston band Jackdaws, who played under the name for the first time. Before the performance, Unsigned Acts / Preston talked with band members Ste (singer and guitarist), Tom (drummer) and Mike (bassist). They mentioned that they had regularly been playing the open mic to debut new songs and build up a following. They told me that the last time they played in December was last minute and due to missing drum kit parts they had to improvise songs. While they still enjoyed it, they were looking forward to performing their songs properly this time.

Put on the lighting, harmonica, guitar, drum and bass, here we go. The first song was‘Undertakers Daughter‘, which was one of the crowds favourites. The stark lyrics tell the story of a girl unable to be taken seriously by anyone, receiving “know it all” advice from her father, religion and partner. Next up was ‘Butterflies‘, which incited whoops of joy. The song was very upbeat and enjoyable. The band debuted new song ‘Good Things Happen to Good People’ next, leading to shouts of an encore. The open mic bands usually play three songs, but due to the crowds response they were shouted at to “keep playing” by the open mic’s promoter.

The band decided to play a couple of covers – a harmonica fuelled version of Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game’ and a dub-country version of the Eurhythmic’s ‘Sweet Dreams’.

“Bravo…” The short set seemed to win the band many new fans, several of whom came over to congratulate them. Jackdaws’ performance was genuinely a pleasure to watch, and for an open mic slot these three guys gave it their best! Unsigned Acts / Preston looks forward to seeing their first full gig.